💭 An Album, A Film, A Book: The Inspirations Of Thomas VDB

Before becoming an actor and host, the comedian Thomas VDB was a journalist and even editor-in-chief of the late Rock Sound magazine. He recounts his memories of his youth and of rock critic hesitating in the formidable Comedian Rhapsody. A book as funny as it is sometimes moving, but you shouldn’t tell it, it annoys him.

Article from Tsugi 146: Virgo Ascendant, disenchanted generation, now available on newsstands and to order online.

The album
The Sparks, Hello young lovers (2006)

I discovered the Sparks too late. However, they changed my vision of music. I was a Queen fan for a long time before I got the Sparks’ revelation at a show in September 2006. I didn’t sleep all night, I bought all of their albums. I did not understand how I could have missed this group. Since then, 60% of the music I listen to is that of the Sparks. My book talks a lot about my obsessive side with bands, Queen first, The Cult, Sparks… I need to know everything. I had the chance to become a little friend with the Sparks, they wanted me to play in the movie Annette. I sent my demo tape to Leos Carax, but I think I’m not really his type.

The film
Ruben Östlund, The Square (2017)

I am very fond of Scandinavian cinema by Thomas Vinterberg, Lars Von Trier and Ruben Östlund who also made Snow Therapy. It’s the same as All Simply Black, a pathetic and hilarious contemporary art museum director character, who wears a costume that’s too big for him. He is not up to the task and all the decisions he makes are catastrophic. He doesn’t control anything that happens to him. I am happy that this comedy won the Palme d’Or. It is not that common.

The book
JD Beauvallet, Ferryman (2021)

If I had been a serious music journalist, I would have liked to be like him. Instead, I was more of a puppet for a newspaper group that had incestuous relationships with the record companies who bought the articles from commercial pages. Having to interview bands in which I had no interest made me feel disgusted with this job. The book of JD it is that of a passionate person who has never betrayed his integrity. He shows that it is possible. My book is more the story of a lack of love.

His book
Comedian Rhapsody (FLAMMARION)

When I am told that my book is “tender”, I have the impression that we are talking about a veal medallion. I wanted to write a funny book, but since it traces memories of youth, nostalgia is often present. Almost in spite of myself. I dreamed of writing a fiction, but I did not feel the shoulders. As I stand-up and often talk about myself, I wrote a book in this vein. When I say that I learned the pages of Télé 7 jours by heart and that I was subscribed to the Mister Cinema Cards, it necessarily gives a nostalgic flavor. It wasn’t my project at first, I wanted to write the funniest thing possible. Maybe I found a good balance. While writing, I found that my “fan attitude” made me ridicule myself more than once, like at that lunch where I tried to make the guys from Korn laugh with a fake sneeze. A humiliating anecdote, but there are others. Comedian Rhapsody is not only the farewell to my life as a journalist, it is also the discovery of my vocation as an actor. What this book says is that when you have the chance to live one of your dreams very young, you better have more quickly.

❏